Description

Black vinyl with insert and promo photo. Limited 300 copies

This is the vinyl remaster release of pre-Lost Breed (who went onto record a couple of classic releases on Hellhound records) band Blind Legion, containing their two studio demos plus the Legion 7″ and the “Blitzkrieg” track from 83. This New York act was originally formed as Blitzkrieg, then Blade (for a few weeks), before changing thier name to Legion (US) and releasing the original version of “Nice Guys Finish Last”. They re-recorded it and released it later in ’85 as “Blind Legion”, and also had several demo tapes. This is a band steeped in old school metal with a touch of doom about them here and there. The track ‘Blitzkrieg’ is a cool NWOBHM assault and one of the bands earliest recordings from 1983. Blind Legion’s only real output (when they were known as Legion) was a 7 inch single ‘Nice Guys Finish Last/Used to Be Blind’ and the rawness experienced on this release comes from the fact that the original demos are no more, these are actually transcriptions from demo tapes and vinyl’s that were no doubt traded many times over. ‘Necromancer’ is darker, much like original NWOBHM band Sacrilege’s output a touch doomier, kind of crossing early Saint Vitus with Witchfinder General. It is gritty, determined, infectious and catchy. ‘Blessed in the Night’ has plenty of nods to the NWOBHM scene and ‘Der Totentanz’ is a special track, one of the highlights of this release, there’s some cool guitar work here. For me, the later demo material (tracks 1 to 9 from 1985 to 1986) is much more precise and very fulfilling than the real raw early material of the final three tracks. Vocally, Gary Tocco sounds a little like Davy Vain, not in the style, but the nasal snarl you hear every once in a while and I suppose you hear the US metal influence coming through in the early part of this album, especially on ‘Much Too Fast’. The album artwork and package is vivid, informative and completes the music on offer perfectly. This is a great album for me, it has grit, angst, with really cool visuals to match the style of music. Like I mentioned earlier, band members went onto form Lost Breed and Cardiac Noose, but this is their beginnings, this is much more metal of the time period of vivid great music from the mid 80’s and I cannot recommend this release any higher, it just fits perfectly with classic metal tastes.

Track list:
1. Much Too Fast
2. What I Got
3. Darkness Falls
4. Living A Nightmare
5. Blessed In The Night
6. Fires In Your Cities
7. Necromancer
8. Der Totentanz
9. In Peace
10. Nice Guys Finish Last
11. Used To Be Blind
12. Blitzkrieg